Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a method and related apparatus for generating online and printing on-demand compilation of works, and in particular, it relates to managing contents and assembling articles into booklets which can be printed on-demand with customer selectable printing options.
Description of Related Art
The rapid development of new printing and telecommunication technologies has made it possible to generate and provide customized compilation of works in printed or other electronic forms on a print-on-demand (POD) basis, which generally refers to production of commercial-quality finished products in printed or electronic forms such as books and compilation booklets on a relatively small scale, typically by a professional print shop, at the request of customers.
One example of generating and producing compilations of works may be that in many educational institutions, a teacher or professor often needs to assemble a group of works and compile them into a volume of course materials. Another example may be that in a business entity or an organization, an instructor or trainer needs to assemble a group of works and compile them into a booklet of training materials. Such works may include previously published papers or articles, images and graphics etc. which may be available in hard copies traditionally but now increasingly in electronic (digital) formats, such as in the portable document (PDF) format. These works may include PDF files in the teacher or instructor's own collection, e.g., stored in his or her own computer storage device such as a hard disc drive, or in a file folder assigned to him or her on a server of the institution or organization. These works may also include PDF files in other third parties' collections, e.g., stored in the third parties' servers and may be accessed via a computer network such as the Internet by using uniform resource locator (URL) links.
Once the teacher or instructor selects the PDF files, they can be assembled together to generate a compilation of works. After a compilation of works is generated into a volume or booklet of articles, students or organization members may purchase the volume or booklet by placing POD orders with a print shop that can print and deliver the volumes or booklets to the students or members.
Often times a compilation of work may be printed with different options that would affect the price of the compilation of works. For example a course booklet may be printed with different types of paper, binding, etc. where higher grade paper or more perfect binding will cost more to print the booklet but lower grade paper or simpler binding will cost less. Customers who desire to have a high quality hard copy of the course booklet may be willing to pay for a higher price, whereas customers who desire to save on the printing price may be willing to accept a standard quality hardcopy of the course booklet.
There is a need to provide a more efficient and cost-effective method and related apparatus for online generation and purchase of compilations of works on a POD basis with customer selectable printing options that are associated with different prices.